The Parting Glass
by piper maru duchovny
Summary: Rose Red has spent twenty-eight years in the basement of Storybrooke General and before that hidden away in the tower of King Leopold's castle; a reminder of everything her mother got but never wanted, practically raised by her elder half-sister. What will Snow White and Rose Red go through to be reunited? - AU, picking up at the end of s1.
1. Chapter 1

**This story started long ago in my head (circa season one, I think) when I created the character Rose Red for a now disbanded roleplay group. Since I recently got back into Once, I have had the hankering to finally put fingers to keyboard and get this story down as a whole. So here goes nothing... Also, this is sort of a prologue of sorts but like the show we will drift back and forth between a pre-curse FTL and Storybrooke. And I've never really written in Enchanted Forest verse before so if it sucks, I'm sorry. **

**Dedicated to Summer for long being the Snow White of my life. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Not yours. Definitely A&E's. **

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><p><em>You look at me and you don't like what you see,<em>  
><em>but this is the price, mother, the price of belonging to you.<em>  
>-Astrid (<em>White Oleander<em>)

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><p>She is invisible. Moving around the castle like a ghost, the young girl has begun to truly believe that no one can see her or maybe it's just that no one wants to see her. If that's the case then maybe she doesn't need to skirt around, moving between curtains and peeking around corners as she waits behind empty armor for a vacant corridor to race down. Should she be more confident, she might move around the castle like her older sister – with all the grace and ease that a princess is supposed to possess, greeting everyone with poise and elegance – but Rose Red is small and has been told since birth that she is inconsequential, little more than a burden, another mouth for the kingdom to feed. And so the adolescent finds comfort in her ghost-like existence as she floats around the castle in her figurative cloak of invisibility, making for the kitchen and her sister's stash of cocoa.<p>

"Rose Red," there's a harsh tone in her sister's voice that makes her cringe as she turns on her heel. Invisibility failed her this time. Snow White stands with her hands on her hips and her eyebrow quirked nearly to her hairline. "Just where do you think you're going? If the queen catches you out of the tower she'll have your head."

"Snow," the girl whines as she twists on the toe of her shoe. "I'm bored and hungry. I just wanted to get to the kitchen for some of the cocoa."

"You should have rang one of the servants," the older princess, the heir to the throne, tells her as she reaches out to card long fingers through her sister's tangled raven hair. "I'll get you some. Go back to your room and get out the books, we'll go over some lessons once I get there."

"If I had a real tutor you wouldn't have to teach me," Rose complains because she is a child and that is what children are wont to do. "I could go out in the gardens and you wouldn't have to-"

"Rose," Snow cuts her off. "I know... I know it's not fair but this is what the queen wants. Besides, I like teaching you. I would rather teach you then go on these ridiculous diplomatic missions the queen keeps sending me on."

Rose frowns. "When do you leave again?"

"Soon enough." Snow tells her. "Now. To your chambers, princess, or you'll do double lessons and receive no cocoa."

"Yes, Snow," the nine year old relents as she turns and marches back to the tower she's been remanded to since her father's murder at the hands of that blasted genie. She drags her feet as she scurries through the halls of the castle, head cast downward and not caring if people see her – her mother could have her head for all she cared. She longed for adventures like the ones in the books Snow read to her, she longed to see beyond the castle gates, but her mother had rules. Before her father's passing, she had at least been allowed into the city every once in awhile with her sister and a full guard at their beck and call but since her father's murder Snow had been the only one Queen Regina had allowed to leave.

Throwing shut the door to her chambers with a loud bang, she almost wished her mother had heard the ruckus because at least then the queen would deign to make an appearance, dare to yell at her daughter. Trouble was the only time Queen Regina looked in her daughter's eyes before dressing her down about how a princess should act and scolding Snow for not teaching her sister better.

Emotionally distraught, the princess fell across her bed and teary eyed glanced out the window at the rain that started to dance across the pane. She sniffled as she drew her knees to her chest the best she could and clung to the ornate pillow on her bed. The door creaks quietly open as Snow slips through, if it had been her mother the door would have opened with the same bang Rose had slammed it close, and the smell of hot cocoa and cinnamon wafts through the air. The older princess places the fine china on the bedside table before letting her hand trace calm circles over her baby sister's back, hushing her quietly. "It's okay, Rose."

"I hate it here," the girl cries. "I miss daddy."

"Me too," Snow confesses. "So very much."

The castle is still cloaked in black even though a bit of time has passed, Queen Regina has seemed to turn the color of grief into a political statement, but the daughters of King Leopold still find comfort in the darkness of their pain – to know that the time has not yet come for them to shove their grief aside.

"Why didn't you send for the servants earlier," Snow asks as she begins to braid the hair back from her sister's face. "You know how Regina hates it when you wander the halls."

"They're so loud," Rose complains. "When it's my choice to wander forth instead of inviting them into my world... it's easier." Her powers of empathy began to make themselves clear not long after the girl's fifth birthday but the sisters had kept it a secret from all, making sure Snow was by her side as much as possible as if to act as a buffer between the child and the rest of the world. Not even their father had been told, let alone the queen, because while magic wasn't uncommon in their world it was rare for one to be born of magic – it was a skill most had to acquire – and it would make the already disliked daughter of the queen even more of a black sheep. So the elder princess did research, acted as buffer, and tried to teach the girl to control the powers within herself.

Snow kisses her temple after the braid is complete. "Am I loud today, Rose?"

"No, you're quieter now," the girl tells her with a sniffle. "After daddy died, your feelings were so... loud, Snow. Your sadness was a cacophony."

"Good word," Snow encourages her. "You've been reading?"

"Mmm," she hums. "Yes. When you're away on the diplomatic missions, reading is the only bit of adventure that I'm allotted."

"Someday, Rose, I am going to be queen," she promises. "And when that day comes, I am going to take you on the most epic adventure of your life, my love."

"Do you swear it," she asks.

"On every star in the sky."

The child flings her arms around the teenager and she clings to her neck, burrowing her face just below her jaw as she clung. "I love you, Snow White."

"And I love you, Rose Red." Snow dropped a kiss to her head. "What do you say we skip lessons today? I think you've earned yourself a break. Go pick out a book and we'll read until the rain stops... Maybe, if the queen is busy, we can hazard a trip to the gardens."

"That sounds wonderful." Rose clambers off the bed and races to the bookshelf, searching for a book that might quell her deep seated need for adventure. She glances over her shoulder at where Snow sits on her bed, watching her, before turning back to her quest; she never tells anyone but sometimes she likes to pretend that Snow White is actually her mother – Snow is kind, caring, attentive and affectionate, just like the stories she heard about the beloved Queen Eva. Somewhere, locked away inside, the princess loves her mother and longs for her approval but a larger part of her is wounded by Regina's constant neglect – only attending to her daughter when it suits her.

Plucking a book at random, she carries the leather bound tome back to her sister as she climbs onto the bed and tucks into her side. Snow kisses her head and some of the nastier thoughts are chased away; Snow's feelings are neutral, calm, except for the gentle wave of love that pulses off of her and it calms the child. "Once upon a time," Snow reads. "In a land so unlike our own, there lived a princess that didn't know who she truly was..."

Sleepy, Rose's eyes flutter close and she relaxes into her sister as the gentle cadence of her voice fills the chambers. Snow reads a story that would be terribly sad if not for the happy ever after, a story of a princess who grows up all alone – an orphan who believes she's unwanted, until she finds her parents cursed and unable to remember her existence. When the brave warrior princess breaks the curse with an act of true love, Rose smiles up at her sister through the haze of drowsiness and Snow finishes the story with a grin of her own as the princess is reunited with her family. "Rest, Rose," Snow instructs. "It's still raining, I'll wake you when it stops and we'll go to the garden."

Just as she begins to slumber, there comes a knock on the chamber door that is followed by one of the guards slipping inside. He removes his helmet and his curly honey hair sticks in every direction – the huntsman, her mother's newest knight. "Pardon the interruption, my ladies," he pleads as he clears his throat and lowers his head in a slight bow. "Princess Snow, the queen has instructed me to accompany you on a journey to the woods; there is a sickness sweeping the castle and because of your studies and my experience growing up in the woods... She believes we can find the necessary herbs to make a healing tonic."

"Of course," Snow relents and Rose paws at her stomach, feeling the waves of guilt coming off the huntsman. "I'll be back, Rose Red," she promises with a kiss to her forehead. "You sleep and I'll accompany the knight... I'm sure I'll return before you even awake."

"Snow," she protests but the look she receives silences her whining. "I love you."

"And I, you," the elder sister promises. "More than all the stars in the sky."

"More than all the stars in the sky," she echoes and watches her sister leave. Sinking back into the pillows, relishing in the warmth left by her sister's body, she drifts off to sleep with the sounds of the rain on the castle roof acting as her lullaby.

She awakens hours later to darkness and her mother perched on the edge of her bed, cold hand shaking her shoulders. Waking with a start, she gasps and recoils from her mother's touch. The darkness coming off her mother is louder than it has ever been before and it nearly causes the young girl to double over. "Mother," she manages. "What are you doing here?"

"Sleeping the day away is unbecoming of a princess, Rose Red," Queen Regina addresses her daughter.

"Snow instructed me to take a nap," Rose explained. "She said she'd awaken me when she returned from her journey for medicine with the knight."

"Snow White is-" Regina begins harshly but stops herself. "My dear, Snow White will no longer be your caregiver."

"What is that to mean," the child asks. "Where is Snow White?"

"She committed an act of treason, my child," Regina speaks to her but does not look her in the eye. "And she escaped my guard... for now. But rest assured, I'll find her and when I do... Snow White will pay for her crimes."

"What crimes has she committed," Rose asks, tears springing to her eyes. "Perhaps it was an accident. Snow White is so good... Surely-"

"Stop," her mother directs. "Snow committed an act of treason and, while I'm sure you care for her very much, she must pay for those crimes whether she intended to commit them or not."

"But she's supposed to be queen," Rose protested. "The throne is rightfully hers!"

"Silence," the queen shouts. "That is enough of your insolence, Rose Red, but you can count on never seeing Snow White again unless it is at the gallows."

"No," she cries. "Mother, I'll... I'll take her punishment."

A quick hand cracks her across the face. "I said 'enough', Rose, and I meant it. You'll remain in your chambers until I say otherwise and you will not see Snow White again, do you understand? Snow White will pay the ultimate price for her crimes and nothing you say is going to change that."

Rose shrinks back in her bed. "Yes, mother."

"That's my girl," Regina breathes and rubs a thumb over her daughter's cheek. "I'll send a servant up with your dinner and then I would like you to get some sleep, Rose Red. Tomorrow... Tomorrow, I will start your lessons. Proper lessons that Snow White obviously didn't give you."

"You're going to teach me," she asked with an eyebrow quirk identical to her sister's.

"Yes," Regina said. "I know of your powers, Rose. You've got magic inside of you. It's okay, I know that Snow is the reason you kept them hidden away, but I'll teach you to control them and together we'll be more powerful than anyone before."

"But I don't wish to be powerful," Rose protested. "I just... I want adventures."

"Adventures you shall have, my girl. Magical ones." She wrinkled her nose. "Far better than the likes of Snow White could provide you."

She relented, knowing a fight would just get her smacked once more. "Yes, mother."

"Goodnight, my dear." Regina crosses the room and turns to give her daughter one more look at the threshold.

"Mother," Rose stops her. "Mother... do you love me?"

"You're my daughter," Regina tells her, like that's an answer. "Goodnight, Rose Red."

"Goodnight, my queen."

A blue bird pecks quietly at her window and she rushes to answer after she's sure her mother has descended the stairs; the blue birds were Snow's calling card, she always sent them while she was away on missions for the kingdom. There is a note tied to it's ankle and she quickly removes it before pouring a small bit of water from the jug she keeps in her room. Perching beside the open window on a bench, she reads the letter by candlelight.

"My dearest sister,  
>Something has happened. I'm not sure why but, Rose, the queen wants me dead. She sent the knight to rip out my heart... I know she is your mother but, please, do not trust her. Know that I would not leave you if I had any other choice – you are my heart, Rose Red – but I fear, for now, you are safer with the queen. I'll come for you as soon as it is safe. Be a good girl... For me. Please. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you. I love you. More than all the stars in the sky.<br>Love,  
>Snow"<p>

Rose crumpled in on herself as the tears came forth; she had known it, the darkness having totally taken over her mother. Pushing down the tears, she quickly grabbed a fresh piece of parchment from her desk and scrawled a messy note in the dim light of her room.  
>"Dear Snow,<br>She told me you committed treason and that you would die for your crimes. Please be safe. We'll be together again someday but for now, you're right, it's safer for you to be away from here. I love you, Snow. More than all the stars in the sky.  
>Love,<br>Your sister."

She tied the scroll around the bird's ankle and gave it a quick petting before it flew off, just in time for the servants knocked on her door. Steadying herself, she opened the chamber door and took on her new role until she could be with her sister once more.

–

In the basement of Storybrooke General there lies an asylum and in that asylum there are many rooms that lock from the outside; Rose Red sits inside one of those rooms in hospital issued pajamas with ratted hair, every bit aware of the last twenty-eight years she has spent not aging at the hands of her mother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Apologies for any and all mistakes, this was written at 4 am on cold medicine. **

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><p><em>so fill to me the parting glass,<em>  
><em>goodnight and joy be with you all<em>  
><em>-The Wailin' Jennys<em>

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><p>"Where is my sister," the words are growled out of Snow White's mouth as she shoves her step-mother harshly against the pillar with more force than Whale dared to use. Behind her, David makes an attempt to settle her down but she cannot heed his words and Emma looks to her son who just stares back in confusion. "Tell me where she is right now, Regina, or I swear to the gods that I will not hesitate to kill you myself."<p>

"Rose Red," Regina begins with eyes cast toward the yard, refusing to meet Snow's. "Died."

The noises that escape the white queen's throat are nothing short of a battle cry as she pulls her step-mother forward just to once again slam her harshly against the pillar, this time with her forearm braced across the woman's throat. "I lived with you for nine years, step-mother. I know when you're lying and right now you are lying. Where is my sister? What have you done with Rose Red?"

"The asylum," Regina rasps out through the choking. "Sn-"

"Snow," David breathes against her ear. "Let up, my love. She'll tell you."

Relaxing her arm just a fraction, she looks at the woman expectantly. "The asylum?"

"In the basement of the hospital," she explains around a cough. "There's an asylum. For people the curse had negative ramifications on."

"You locked her up," Snow yells. "You locked her up again! You kept her hidden away? For twenty-eight years."

"She was immune," Regina explains. "She was... She was supposed to help me but all... Her alliance to you held true."

"She was awake the whole time," Snow cries. Her heart breaks as she imagines her already emotionally frail little sister spending twenty-eight years locked in a cell, completely aware of what's happening around her. She lets go of the woman and stumbles backward against her husband. "You'll pay for this one, Regina."

"I already have," she whispers as she glances at her son, the boy hiding behind Emma.

"Not hardly," the woman counters as she thinks of everyone who has paid at the hand of her step-mother's virulent anger; Rose, Emma, and Henry had paid the steepest price of all. "I'll deal with you later."

"I look forward to it."

Snow turns on her heel and quickly leads their way back down the sidewalk and toward the hospital; her mind is singularly focused and the only thing she can think about is freeing her little sister. There is so much that needs done; a conversation with Emma, apologies with Emma, fixing things with Emma, but Emma has made it clear that she's not ready yet to open that door. So the mother pushes down her desire to hold her daughter and instead leads the quest to free her little sister.

"I have an aunt," Emma asks; her voice quivers, this day has been beyond a culture shock for the savior.

"I have a great aunt who's also my adopted sister," Henry pipes in with enough enthusiasm to illicit a chuckle from the group.

"Just after my tenth birthday, Regina married my father," she explains as she slows her pace ever so slightly. "And before my eleventh, Rose Red was born. Regina... Our life was not the one she wanted; she wanted her happy ever after with Daniel and Cora had killed him, less than a year later she had a daughter with a man she didn't love. She could hardly stand to look on Rose and my father was a very busy man so most of Rose's raising was left to me. We had nannies and things of the sort but there was so much they didn't do, so many things that I would not allow my baby sister to miss out on."

"I remember when I first met her," David jumps in and she grateful to him. "She had just escaped Regina's kingdom and I didn't yet even know that you had a sister but suddenly this girl came crashing into our campsite demanding to speak with you."

"Regina kept her locked up," she explains quietly, anger racing through her veins at the way her sister had been treated. "Father had let her have free reign of the castle grounds and we'd venture out into the village on occasion but once he died... Regina remanded her to her quarters, finally not forced to look upon her. She was to be barely tolerated and if she were caught outside her tower... she was punished."

"She really is evil," Henry whispers as if the knowledge is truly sinking in for the first time. Emma doesn't hesitate as she pulls him to her side and kisses the crown of his head. "I..."

"It's okay, Henry," Snow promises. "Yes, she is evil but even I still have trouble believing that she'll never be good. I still wish her to be good. To be the woman who saved my life the day we met."

"Maybe she will be," he hopes out loud. "Maybe some day she can fix things with all of us."

"Maybe," Emma echoes before redirecting the conversation. "What's my aunt like?"

"You remind me a lot of her," Snow tells her as they approach the hospital. "The last we saw each other, I was heavily pregnant with you and she was so looking forward to being an aunt – she had all these things that she wanted to teach you. She was nineteen so I guess that's probably how she'll still look now. A few weeks before you were born, Emma, she had left to go scout for information and it was reported back to us that she was captured by the black knights and taken back to Regina's kingdom. We had planned to rescue her after your birth but then the curse came."

They quiet as they make their way into the hospital; it seems to be abandoned, everyone off in a hurry to reunite with their loved ones. As a family, they pile into the small rickety elevator and take it down one level to the basement that is lit with flickering florescent bulbs and they can hear the noises of those inside, those truly driven crazy by the queen's curse. Knowing they need help breaks Snow's heart but she knows it's unsafe to help them without knowing why they're locked away and her mind is set on finding Rose Red first.

"Rose," she calls out down the corridor as Charming flicks through what looks like a patient manifest.

He drops the clipboard back to the desk as he looks at his wife before grabbing the keys and handing them to her. "Last door on the left."

"Rose," she calls her name once again as she takes off in a sprint down the dimly lit corridor. Her family at her heels, she stops in front of the cell and quickly thumbs through the numbered keys as she searches for the right one. "Rose, it's Snow. I'm going to let you out."

"Snow," she calls back. "It's broken? You know who you are."

"It is and I do," she promised as she turned the key in the lock and opened the door. "Come here, sweetheart. You've got some people to meet."

The nineteen year old who should have been pushing fifty flew out of her cell and into her sister's arms. Emma Swan watches as her apparent aunt clings to her mother in a way that she can't allow herself to, not yet, and Henry squeezes her hand while he watches the scene, a reminder that she's not alone and it's okay to take her time.

Snow White cards her fingers through her sister's knotted hair and whispers quiet words of affirmation as the young woman sobs against her shoulders. "It's okay, Rose," she promises with lips at her temple. "I've got you. You're okay."

"It's so loud," Rose breathes. "The cell walls seemed to block me from the rest of them and I only had to deal with the orderlies and doctors but now... Snow, it's loud."

"Just breathe," Snow encourages before casting a small glance at her family. "Rose has magic," she explains. "Powers of empathy and after being kept away from people for twenty-eight years... I think everything feels amplified to her at the moment."

"Twenty-eight years," she mumbles against her sister's shoulder. "Gods, she locked me up for twenty-eight years."

"She did." Snow sighs and kisses her forehead, pulling back from the embrace when she's certain that Rose can hold herself together. "You should meet your niece and great-nephew. Rose Red, this is my daughter, Emma, and my grandson, Henry."

A shaking hand comes out to brush the flaxen locks from Emma's face and Emma takes it bravely, understanding what the woman needs. "You look... So much like your mother. Except for that hair."

"That she got from me," David interjects.

"David," Rose cries as she pulls away from Emma to launch herself at her brother-in-law. "Oh, I've missed you so."

"It's good to see you, Rosie." He ruffles her hair playfully as she swats at him.

"It's Rose," she counters with a huff. "Still can't see what my sister saw in the likes of you."

He grins and winks at his wife. "Yeah. Me neither."

"I'm Henry," the little boy tells her as he steps up to her side and wraps her in a hug. Her thin hand comes down to cup the back of his head as she breathes deeply, there's something soothing about the boy – like Snow, his emotions are well contained and not overwhelming to her. "I'm your great-nephew but I'm also kind of your adopted brother."

Rose quirks a dark eyebrow in a perfect arch. "Oh?"

"Regina adopted him," Emma explains as she reaches out to smooth her son's hair. "When he was born... I wasn't at a place where I could be a mother. So I gave him up for adoption and in some surely orchestrated turn of events he ended up here. Then he came and found me. Brought me home."

Snow smiles deeply at her daughter's use of the word home. "That's right. Henry saved us all."

"Sounds like you have the makings of a white knight," she addresses the boy. "Little prince."

"Not that little," he counters. "But can we get out of here? This place is giving me the creeps."

"Me too," Snow confesses. With her anger dissipating, the asylum leaves a creepy feeling lingering in the pit of her stomach and she longs to escape it as quickly as possible. "Let's go home. Rose can have a shower and I'll make us all some food."

"Grilled cheese," Emma requests quietly as she falls in step beside her mother, opposite her aunt and father while Henry leads the way.

"Anything you want, Emma," she promises.

It doesn't take long for them to descend upon the loft; Rose slips quietly away to take a shower, clothes Emma offers her tucked under her arm. The blond sits on the corner of the couch with her knees drawn to her chest as she tries to absorb all the information she's had thrown at her in one day. She, Emma Swan, is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, her step-grandmother is the Evil Queen, and her half aunt is Rose Red. Not to mention, having seven godfathers and Red Riding Hood as her godmother plus a town full of storybook characters all expecting her to save them. It's a lot to take in on top of the fact that her son all but died earlier that day. Henry tucks into her side as Snow brings over a platter full of grilled cheese and Charming follows with bowls filled with tomato soup which makes Emma smile because for the first time in twenty-eight years she's got a family who cares enough to make her favorite meal.

Rose emerges from the bathroom in Emma's pajama pants and long sleeve shirt as she crosses the room to sit on the floor in front of Snow's feet. Wordlessly, the older sister places her food on the side table and begins to pull her little sister's thick raven hair back into a loose braid. Emma watches the comfort they share with just the slightest bit of envy in her stomach.

"You'll have this soon," Rose tells her, reaching her foot out to nudge Emma's calf.

Emma's brow furrows. "How?"

"Empath, remember?" The teenager gives her a small smile. "I don't have to be a seer to put your feelings together with an all too obvious thought."

"Great," Emma sighed. "Now I have to watch my feelings?"

"It's hardly any different from your superpower, Emma." Snow ties off her sister's hair and nudges her toward the food; she's gotten all too underfed in the asylum and her body shows the proof. "Emma can tell when people are lying."

"That's handy," Rose mumbles around a bite of her sandwich. "Probably more to it than you realize."

"How so?"

"Because I'm an empath, other kinds of magic just sort of comes easily to me," she explains. "Mother always loved that I was born with magic – even this teensy bit because people who are born with even the slightest magic are far more powerful than those who must acquire it could ever be. My mother and Rumple being two that had to acquire their magic – though Rumple's is a bit different, sort of a combination of the two. The only thing mother could ever stand about me was my powers. In any event, you were born with magic, Emma. Probably stronger than mine will ever be. Because you were born of true love and true love is the most powerful magic of all."

"Great," Emma sighs. "If I wasn't enough of a freak already..."

"You're not a freak," Snow and Charming speak in unison.

But Rose understands; she knows what it is like to be an outcast, unwanted and unloved and thinking everything about you is wrong. She understands Emma in a way few others probably could. "I'll help you figure it out," she promises. "Give me a few days to get my bearings on everything and then we'll figure out your magic."

Emma's eyebrow quirks just like her mother's and aunt's. "You will?"

"Of course," she swears. "I would have back home too. We'd already figured you would have powers by the time you were born and I had planned to show you the ropes then. So my plan got delayed twenty-eight years. We'll still do it."

"Thanks."

Henry pipes in then, "Is magic genetic?"

"If Rose got her magic from Regina then no," Emma explains.

"Ah but I didn't," Rose interjects. "Snow has magic too – it's not as common or as thrilling as mine and presumably Emma's but not just anyone can speak to animals."

"Wait, that's real," Emma asks. "I thought it was just a Disney thing."

"No," Henry explains. "I saw her do it in class sometimes – even as Miss Blanchard, the birds would come whenever she whistled."

"See," Rose tells them. "Magic. Might not be much magic but it's still magic. And when Snow met Charming and their true love began... Emma, my dear niece, you got a punch full of magic dwelling inside you."

"Dammit," she whines and drops her head to her hand.

"We'll get it all straightened out," she promises with a comforting pat to her niece's knee.

Later that night, the credits of a movie flicker on the TV and Henry lays asleep on the couch with his feet in his mother's lap and his head resting against his aunt's thigh. Rose cards her fingers through his hair and glances over to see that her niece had fallen asleep too; Henry had insisted they watch the Disney version of their fairytale upon finding out that Rose hadn't even heard of it. Charming had long ago retired to bed but Snow's still awake and she brings her sister a bowl of ice cream.

She eyes it hesitantly before Snow giggles quietly from where she sits on the arm of the couch. "Just try it, trust me."

A bite of the cold confection makes her moan quietly. "Gods, this is delicious."

"Isn't it," Snow whispers as she steals a bite.

"Snow?"

"Rose Red."

She sighs. "I wish to speak with mother."

"Rose..." Snow sits the bowl on the table next to her. "I won't tell you not to but I wish that you wouldn't. Magic having come to our land makes her unstable and while she doesn't have control over it yet – you know Regina, Rose. It won't take her long and once she's got it handled she won't hesitate to kill anyone who crosses her."

"She won't kill me," she spoke confidently. "I know she hates me but I'm her daughter, Snow. And even though she hates me... She can't kill me."

"Promise you'll take back up," she pleads.

"Of course."

The sister's sit in silence for a moment as Rose continues to play with Henry's shaggy chestnut hair. "He reminds me of you," the younger woman explains. "He's so loving and trusting and his emotions are very quiet."

"I can't believe I have a grandson," Snow whispers as she traces a finger around the shell of Henry's ear. "Or a twenty-eight year old daughter. Gods, Rose. She's so beautiful and grown up and... hurt, broken by this world, and so very angry at me and Charming."

"Give it time, Snow," she urges quietly. "If you could feel all the emotions toiling around inside her, you'd understand, but just for now... She loves you. I can feel that much."

"Thank you," Snow whispers as she kisses her sister's head. "I've missed you so, Rose Red."

Rose smiles. "I love you. More than all the stars in the sky."

"More than all the stars in the sky," she echoes.


End file.
